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This insight article examines COVID-19's impact on the global cellular IoT industry. In particular, this article summarizes COVID-19’s current impact on the global cellular IoT supply chain and the potential impact COVID19 could have on the cellular IoT customer/demand side.

u-blox, a key cellular IoT module vendor, announced on 1 April 2020 that it had acquired Thingstream, an IoT mobile virtual network operator. With the acquisition, u-blox joins other mainstream module vendors in becoming more vertically integrated in order to reduce the threat of commoditization increasingly posed by Chinese module vendors. This article examines Thingstream’s offering and differentiation in the market, and the rationale for Thingstream’s acquisition by u-blox.

At MWC Barcelona in late February, in addition to the highly covered 5G standard, the NB-IoT and the Cellular Vehicle-to-Vehicle (C-V2X) standards also demonstrated significant progress in the cellular IoT space.
This article includes news summary at MWC and IHS Markit analysis that are related to the NB-IoT and the C-V2X technologies.

The term “Massive IoT” is an apt description of the enormous number of IoT sensors and devices that will be communicating with one another. According to 3GPP specifications, the 5G standard for Massive IoT will support up to 1 million connected devices for every 0.38 square miles (roughly 1 square kilometer). In comparison, 4G LPWA supports 60,680 devices at the same size of coverage—a far cry from what 5G can deliver.

Shenzhen Water, China Telecom, and Huawei officially announced the launch of a project in Shenzen which leverages the use of NB-IoT technology enabling smart water metre communications. Shenzhen Water deployed around 1,200 NB-IoT enabled smart water metres in Southern Pearl Garden and other residential areas in the Yantian District of Shenzhen. As part of the project, Shenzhen water has now upgraded its water management system thanks to the water service platform based on China Telecom E-Cloud 3.0.

Trilliant and Siemens announced a partnership to build a smart grid infrastructure supporting distributed automation and smart metres in Mexico City and the wider State of Mexico.
The project was awarded by the Electricity Federal Commission (Comisión Federal de Electricidad, CFE) by means of a tender process. The goal of the initiative is to reduce electricity waste and loss in Mexico City and in the State of Mexico.

Intel is acquiring Lantiq, provider of DSL broadband access and home networking technology. Terms of the deal remain undisclosed, and the process is expected to take 90 days to fully close, pending any regulatory approvals and transaction stipulations.

Cloud-based software solutions, biometric terminals and mobile apps are among the key trends in the years to come for managing the workforce in business settings, according to new analysis from IHS Technology (NYSE: IHS).

With cellular machine-to-machine (M2M) connections in Asia expected to more than triple in the coming years, local wireless operators have banded together in a group dedicated to facilitating M2M deployments in the region.

The PC market continued to muddle through as shipments declined once more in the second quarter, with computers as a whole proving no match against the unrelenting popularity of smartphones and tablets...

Desktops are equally as popular as notebooks, counter to trends elsewhere in the world

April 25, 2013

China rose to the top of the PC market for the first time last year, dispatching the United States to second place by a lead of more than 3 million units. PC shipments in 2012 to China amounted to 69 million units, exceeding the 66 million total reached by the United States. Only a year earlier in 2011, the United States was the leading global destination for PCs of all stripes, including desktops and notebooks. China’s PC market also displays distinct characteristics that set it apart from the PC trade elsewhere, possessing a vast untapped rural market and unique consumer-purchasing patterns.

Consumers everywhere love the iPhone, with its strong sales in almost every region of the world, keeping Apple Inc. in first or second place in the global smartphone rankings. However, there is one country where Apple isn’t No. 1 or No. 2—and doesn’t rank even among the Top 5.

Are we talking about some obscure nation where the locals don’t have access to essentials like iPhones?

No, we’re talking about the world’s most populous and economically vibrant country: China.

In China, Apple ranked in seventh place among smartphone brands during the first half of 2012

China’s domestic PC shipments in 2012 are set to rise at three times the rate of the global market, driven by strong economic growth and insatiable demand from the commercial sector, according to an IHS iSuppli China Research report from information and analytics provider IHS (NYSE: IHS).PC shipments for consumption in China for 2012 are projected to reach 83.6 million units, up 13.1 percent from 73.9 million units last year. In comparison, global shipments are set to increase by only 4.4 percent this year.Domestic shipments of both desktop and notebook PCs to the Chinese market have been growing at robust double-digit rates for several years, and the healthy pace of expansion is set to continue for at least two more years before the market moderates slightly to a 9 percent increase in 2015.